If you lose your way while walking on a mountain or in town, did you know that there is a way to find the cardinal direction south using the sun and an analog watch?
The sun is at its highest position due south at 12:00, which refers to the sun crossing the meridian. Take advantage of this phenomenon.
First turn the hour hand toward the direction of the sun while maintaining your watch horizontally. At this time the angle bisecting the hour hand and the 12:00 position on the dial will show south.
Think of the hour hand as the position of the sun on a sundial. In the case of a watch with a 24-hour hand, which makes one revolution in 24 hours, the 12:00 position of the dial is always south.
In the case of a regular watch, the hour hand makes one revolution in 12 hours, which means that it rotates twice as fast as the sun, because the sun makes one revolution in 24 hours. Therefore, it is necessary to correct this by halving, and the half angle indicates the direction south.
Note that the left side of the dial is south in the morning, and the right side of the dial is south in the afternoon.
In fact, crossing the meridian at Akashi, in Japan Standard Time, is regarded as 12:00 in Japan, which creates an error in other regions. It is also difficult to correctly turn the hour hand in the direction of the sun, so please use this method only as a reference.
Remember that the position, which is half of the 12:00 position and the hour hand is north, instead of south in the Southern Hemisphere.
